GUILDERLAND — Scott LoBaido travels the country painting American flags in tribute to those who protect his freedom.

This week, he painted a three-dimensional mural on the brick wall of Town ‘N’ Country Lanes, on Western Avenue, to honor Major General Harold J. Greene, who was shot and killed in Afghanistan in August.

The mural features the shadow of Major General Greene, saluting, in the center of the flag.

When the owner of the bowling alley, Jack Scaccia, saw the finished product, he had tears in his eyes.

“He told me he was going to paint a flag on my building,” Scaccia said. “This is obviously so much more than that.”

Major General Greene grew up in Guilderland; his father, Harold F. Greene, still lives here.

Twenty-five years ago LoBaido was floating around Manhattan, trying to find himself as an artist, he said. He had been passionate about painting since he was in the second grade, he said, but had not received any formal training, and had yet to find his calling.

“There was a lot of negativity toward the American flag at that time,” he told The Enterprise this week. “I saw so much hate for it.”

At one point, said LoBaido, he visited an artist’s studio with an American flag on the floor, to be used for wiping feet.

“That’s when I decided I was going to paint the greatest work of art ever created,” he said. “I was going to paint the American flag in all different styles — realistic, abstract, Impressionistic.”

At first, he said, it was “like pulling teeth” trying to get people to allow him to paint the flag for free.

“It was taboo,” said LoBaido. “Now I can’t keep up with the demand.”

He said he’s lost count of the number of flags he has painted, but it is somewhere in the thousands.

He considers his greatest creative accomplishment his “Flags Across America,” where, in 10 months, he drove across the country and painted a flag on one rooftop in each state, so that soldiers flying home from war would be greeted by a flag.

LoBaido described driving to Moore, Oklahoma after a Category 5 tornado caused massive damage, and finding one roof still intact among the destruction.

He found the owners of the house assessing their belongings, and asked if he could paint an American flag on their roof.

While he was in the process of painting his flag, the neighbors began to gather, watch, and ask questions.

“I told them, ‘Hey, you are going to help out your neighbor, Joe, and he’s going to help his neighbor, Sally, and so on,’” said LoBaido. “I said, ‘This is what America is about — community.’”

He has painted on canvases as varied as a manufacturing facility’s roof and a show horse’s face.

The flag on top of the manufacturing facility — Lamons Gasket Company in Houston, Texas — is the largest in the world, spanning 3.5 acres.

When LoBaido heard about the death of Major General Greene, he used the same process he follows each time he gets an idea in his head.

First, he put out a call to his friends for donations.

“I have a loyal patriotic following,” he said. “They donate a couple bucks here and a couple bucks there.”

Then, he got in his car and drove to Guilderland, spending Sunday driving through town looking for the best canvas for his art.

He picked Town ‘N’ Country Lanes, he said, because the large cinder-block wall faces Western Avenue, which he described as “the main thoroughfare.”

LoBaido approached Scaccia on Monday and described what he wanted to do.

“I could tell he was waiting and trying to figure out what the scam was,” LoBaido said.

“I was skeptical,” admitted Scaccia. “But then I thought it would be great because I have been wanting to replace the flag that used to be there.”

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, an employee of Scaccia at the time painted a large, simple American flag on that same wall.

Over the years, though, the paint wore off, and, eventually, Scaccia painted over it in brown.

“It is a powerful piece,” he said of LoBaido’s work, which took him only 48 hours to complete. “Stuff like this brings back the patriotism in the United States.”

LoBaido was thrilled that Scaccia agreed to his proposal.

“It usually takes me a good 10 tries before I can get anyone to agree to it,” he said.

Of his finished product, LoBaido said he wanted people to recognize what it stood for.

“You are always hearing in the news about this celebrity dying or that celebrity having a baby,” he said. “This is the real celebrity; this is the real hero. Greene’s shadow stands here looking out and saluting all of his comrades.”